It's already been a whole 2 weeks since CTN!
Coming up on finals for my classes and then I will be swamped for the next 6mths working on my BFA (and a whole new set of classes for Spring)
Life is crazy, but in a good way.
And CTN, WOW!
What an incredible experience.
Ok, this is going to be a long post!
I wasn't sure what to expect with CTN because I've never been to a con before, but I was excited for it. I discovered CTN from artist's blogs I love to follow. So many of then kept posting about how they were going to have a booth at this conference and I just knew I had to go.
They have discounts for school students and I saw UVU wasn't listed, so I called and had our school added to the list! (woohoo discount!)
Before going, I studied the site like crazy of what to expect. (Everytime I saw the list of artists that were going to be there, I literally would geek out.)
And let me just say, I was not disappointed.
I rode down with my class mates
Adam Munoa and
Nate Call while the rest of the group came out separately.
We entertained ourselves with 'Adventure time' and "Arrested Development' episodes and mostly just talked the whole way. I was too excited to sleep (which usually happens to me during road trips) and we made it to California in great time.
We stayed at my friend's place and they took great care of us!
On Thursday morning I got to go to the Disney Animation Studio in Burbank where I was lucky enough to be a part of the tour.
From the murals on the walls to the concept art for Disney's new flick that will be coming out soon, "Frozen", chatting with Elsa Chang, hearing Victoria Ying talk about "Wreck it Ralph" and seeing Brittney Lee's candy model of Sugar Rush' for the film was all amazing!!!
Then that night we got to go to the "Rise of the Guardians" preview at the Dreamworks Studios. I was pleasantly surprised. Original character designs, with a really cute story. I wish we could have toured that studio too!
Friday morning we were off to CTN!
The first person I saw when I walked into the hall was
Pascal Campion, I walked straight over to him and he said, "You must be Rani"
AHHHHH! He knew my name! (Yes, it's because I stalk his art!)
But from that point on I was a giddy mess.
Pascal gave me a book and a hug and I bought a print from him.
(I wish I could have bought all of them!)
Then, the next person I see?
Brittney freakin' Lee! I have followed her blog for 5 years when I discovered her Rapunzel piece on
Illustration Friday . (That was before I went back to school and she has been an inspiration to me ever since!) She was so nice to this babbling fan (which I'm sure she's used to) and I bought a
few things from her booth... it felt like Christmas!
I went on to meet so many more incredible artists buying prints and making friends along the way.
(Some artists I got to meet: Bobby Chiu, Jean Baptist Monge, J Scott Campbell, Chris Oatley, Kei Acedera,
Bill Robinson, Brett Bean, Cale Atkinson, Chris
Oatley, Cory Godbey, David Colman, De' Von Stubblefield, Dominick Domingo,
Elena & Olivia Ceballos, Elsa Chang, Genevieve Tsai, J Scott Campbell, Jake
Parker, Marcelo Vignali, Ryan Woodward, Sean Galloway, Victoria Ying , Betsy Bauer, Cassandra Poulson, Steph Laberis, Tuna Bora, Ty Carter, Trevor Spencer, Andrea Fernandez, Mike Yamada, Elena and Olivia Ceballos, Sean Galloway, and many more.)
I have links to most of their blogs/sites on the side bar of my blog so you can check out their work!
Elena & Olivia Ceballos
The next 3 days was filled with workshops, demonstrations, sketching live models, portfolio reviews and just having a fun time.
At the "Dames of Fame" workshop with Terryl Whitlatch, Brittney Lee, Carole Police and Sue Dicicco.
Meeting the artists was of course the highlight of the trip and I cannot express enough how down to earth and friendly they all were. It was intimidating enough and I'm sure I came across like some sort of crazed excited canine every time I saw one of my idols but they still treated me so nicely! :D
I admire how genuine these artists were and love that the people in the animation industry aren't pretentious.
I splurged and got some goodies and if I were rich I would have bought a lot more because I love these artist and want to support them all!
One day when I have a studio of my own, these prints will be covering my walls:
When it was all over I was exhausted from the whole overwhelming experience.
I slept on the car ride home.
The excitement and the realization of what I need to work towards drained me, but in a good way.
It made me even more motived to push myself to be the best artist I can be.
I know I have a long way to go and it will be difficult, I may never get there, but I'm excited for the journey ahead of me to find my own voice. Seriously, what better way to spend my life then pursuing my dreams? I will definitely go to CTN as many times as I can afford to because it really was an experience of a lifetime.